I had never seen Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, just not my kind of film. So I wondered why this had been chosen for the new series of Classic Movies on Sky Arts. I found out why. Released in 1989, this is a time travelling adventure where Bill and Ted "head to the past to save the future". The comic duo are high school kids who are basically slackers with no hope of a successful graduation. Written by Ed Solomon and Chris Mathison, no major studio was interested in financing this project until Dino De Laurentis plunged in. The film starred the young Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter, who were cast for their apparent connection after hundreds were auditioned.
We have the same panel as before, except missing this time was Bonnie Greer. Stephen Armstrong was prominent in this episode, and he describes the film better than anyone. Christina Newland tells us, "Although their roles were silly, they wanted to be so sincere in how they played them. " We are told about the two lead actors and how both their parents were interested in theatre. The team describes the plot, and we see some of the historical characters the boys meet along the way.
The finished film still did not make it to cinemas when the studio went bust, and it was shelved for a year until another studio came along and started showing it in colleges. That was the beginning of the momentum that led to a full release and its future success. It led to two sequels and a TV show. Reeves and Winter went on to successful careers in film and even joined up to star in a Broadway play: would you believe Waiting for Godot.
No comments:
Post a Comment